Brendan Rodgers (Liverpool -> Celtic -> Leicester)

I don't understand how anyone can defend Rodgers. Talking about Rafa vs Rodgers net spend. The post above talks about skewing stats but the stats are skewed because you need to include the Torres and Sterling fees into Rafas stats. Alonso does not skew anything because rafa bought him. Sales of suarez snd sterling skew Rodgers stats as he inherited those players. Further Rafa delivered how many trophies for his spend? How many has Rodgers delivered? Has he even reached a final?

Rodgers is severely lacking IMO. He has no clue how to set up a balanced team. He doesn't have a playing philosophy and he continually picks dejan Lovren! Crystal Palace 1-3, Stoke 6-1 and West Ham 0-3 should be once every 50 year results not every 5 games. You simply cannot be regularly thrashed by teams who spend far less on players than you do. The guy has changed his playing staff, and backroom personnel. The only constant is him he is the weakest link! He had a great opportunity to hire a world class number two but instead he goes for mediocrity just like Allen and lovren.

Enough is enough get this man out!

I'm just writing it off as an anomaly for the bedding in period of our new players, yesterday we fielded, Clyne, Gomez, Milner, Benteke, Firminho, who are only 4 games into their competitive Liverpool careers, that's basically half the first XI.

They may have ups, the Arsenal game in the first half and they may have downs, yesterday's result against West Ham, until they click as a unit.

If it becomes apparent over the next few months that this isn't the case, then I'll begin to worry.

What did encourage me yesterday is we didn't actually play that bad, two individual errors cost us the first two goals, we were the better team at that point, we just couldn't break West Ham down, who were compact and were defending just as good as we were against Arsenal.

What didn't encourage me yesterday apart from the defensive mistakes that put us 2-0 down was, it was obvious from early on in the game what West Hams tactics were, they were staying compact in the middle, they were doubling up against Benteke and we weren't getting runners close enough to him, nor were we giving him any service, Rodgers should have changed the shape and personnel much earlier even in the 1st half when their tactics was apparent, I'd have thrown Ings on and gave their center backs some one else to worry about playing on their shoulders.

Yesterday was far from an anomaly and was symptomatic of a problem that's plagued us for over a year - we have simply failed to replace Suarez with the right kind of player. Besides, he shouldn't be bedding in so many new players, he's had four seasons and seven transfer windows to do that. The team should by and large be settled now. This Summer should have been about adding the final pieces to the puzzle in assembling a team capable of challenging for honours but instead it's another total rebuild. He's also persisting with the same tried and failed tactics. Fourteen shots on target in total across four games is proof enough of its failure. The man has run out of excuses and needs to stop being so obstinate because it's holding us back.

Don't bother posting the numbers on the talent he's lost.

I don't see how that is relevant to the amount of money he has wasted in the transfer market (apart from making the total much larger)?

He can't claim credit for good players bought by more perspicacious managers and the talent that we have lost has little to do with the fact that the players he has bought have on the whole proved less than successful, which was the point of my post.

Another game where embarrassment was put on the club.

perspicacious

New one on me that S@int cheers, that's my new thing learned for the day

Totally agree with your post though, Brendan had 'the Suarez money' and 'the Sterling money', the entire squad is now almost full with his purchases and to be honest with you I'd swap it instantly for the one he inherited, that can not be a good sign at all.

I don't understand how anyone can defend Rodgers. Talking about Rafa vs Rodgers net spend. The post above talks about skewing stats but the stats are skewed because you need to include the Torres and Sterling fees into Rafas stats.

Its not defending Rodgers, its showing that Rodgers net spend is above that of Rafa's.

If we were to include the Torres and Sterling fee into Rafa's, we'd have to put Reina, Masch, Agger etc then we'd also have to delete Houlliers buys from Rafa sales etc.

When I say the Figures are Skewered, I mean by transfer fee's that are an anomaly, to receive a £30m transfer fee for Alonso under Rafa's reign was the exception rather than the rule of outgoing transfers under Rafa, same with Suarez and Sterling under Rodgers.

If anything the sale of Suarez and Sterling and the fee's received for both players makes Rodgers transfer business look all the more poorer.

Yesterday was far from an anomaly and was symptomatic of a problem that's plagued us for over a year - we have simply failed to replace Suarez with the right kind of player

Can't really say its symptomatic of a problem that's plagued us for over a year when half the starting XI were not here last year, no doubt this squad will have its own problems that need ironing out and a bit of tweaking here and there, its down to Rodgers to see if he can do it.

Although I agree not replacing Suarez has been a problem and it was criminal how we wasted his transfer fee.

Can't really argue with the rest of your post.

New one on me that S@int cheers, that's my new thing learned for the day

Totally agree with your post though, Brendan had 'the Suarez money' and 'the Sterling money', the entire squad is now almost full with his purchases and to be honest with you I'd swap it instantly for the one he inherited, that can not be a good sign at all.

The worrying thing is that £50million + players are now becoming more common at top clubs. The mancs bought Di Maria for £60million and are now looking to buy Bale, Citeh have bought Sterling and are buying de Bruyne for around £60million while Chelsea are hoping to sign Pogba for a fee and wages that must have made even Abramovich blink. Will this be Brendan's next excuse?

Can't really say its symptomatic of a problem that's plagued us for over a year when half the starting XI were not here last year, no doubt this squad will have its own problems that need ironing out and a bit of tweaking here and there, its down to Rodgers to see if he can do it.

It's not the players, it's the style of players. It's the type of player we have being used in the wrong system. Benteke may be an upgrade on Balotelli but he still isn't the type of player that plays up front on his own. The persistence in playing a player unsuited for that role is the problem I allude to. Rodgers' failure is trying to force the player to suit the formation rather than using the formation that best suits the player and our performances are suffering as a result.

Will this be Brendan's next excuse?

He can't really complain when he had enough from Sterling and Suarez to buy Di Maria and De Bruyne, with enough left over for one Joe Gomez.

I don't see a clear way forward under Brendan anymore, I have tried to over the last three years or so but its getting harder and harder to see an end goal in his vision or style..

Like every manager we have had in my time I've given him my backing, and to the effect i won't slag him off, but if I'm honest I felt he should have gone after Stoke last season, I don't see personally with the limitations we have witnessed over his tenure will go away by throwing even more money at it.. The football is limited and fairly easy to play against, yes on paper up until yesterday the season looked ok but both Bournemouth and Arsenal could have gone differently with refereeing decisions.

The buying strategy is flawed as most to one extent or another have stated over the last three years, either let the manager bring them in or let the committee do the recruiting because what we have now is an unbalanced squad full of players brought in by both who we are struggling to get minutes for them to truly settle and find their feet, in some areas we simply have too many options.

He won't go any time soon as the summer backing has shown, they have if anything given him more control and they won't pull that rug after a few weeks to start again, he will defo be there at the end of the season but I'm being honest I see the season bring another tough watch..

The owners are complicit in this, they don't have any idea still on what way is the right way forward, sinply making money available doesn't make a good set of owners if the structure and vision is flawed.

The football over Brendan's time has ultimately been turgid to watch apart from the season Luis was on fire and he could make anything better, he could F**k my wife and I'd be in awe of his performance. But the football apart from that lacks true identity, it's not complete enough to dominate teams, it's not tactical enough to cover its shortcomings.

Brendan seems a nice fella, I've backed him but as I said earlier, the deficiency we have witnessed for me wasn't going to be solved by throwing more money at it..

The F***ing Lovren/Skrtel partnership makes me want to cry

The reality is that you don't replace a Suarez - he is an outstanding world class player. You can only hope to strengthen the rest of the squad sufficiently. 

Some here seem to think that you're not a supporter unless you accept mediocrity. Keegan et al have proved that you are very unlikely to win anything unless you can sort your defence. For those who support Rodgers. Aside from the 6 month spell with Suarez, Sturridge and Sterling on fire what area of the team has Rodgers improved 4 years and a third of a billion pounds later? He then appoints inexperienced coaching staff. We need top people running this club. Rodgers has no CV to speak of - no track record of success. One decent season with Swansea? Look at the mancs. Moyes was out of his depth they got rid -  quickly and it was a correct decision as Moyes had never won anything. Giving Rodgers 4 years and a third of a billion quid is making the souness years look like a decent spell.

The worrying thing is that £50million + players are now becoming more common at top clubs. The mancs bought Di Maria for £60million and are now looking to buy Bale, Citeh have bought Sterling and are buying de Bruyne for around £60million while Chelsea are hoping to sign Pogba for a fee and wages that must have made even Abramovich blink. Will this be Brendan's next excuse?

He is quick to reach for that excuse book when things get a bit tough, so I'd guess it would be. There was too much acceptance in his post match interview:

"They scored early so that gave them belief and something to hang on to."

It was 4 minutes and they certainly weren't hanging on at any point in the game, with 1 shot on target from us. As for belief, they came with a game plan it was clear quite quickly and we never got to grips with it at any point.

"Mistakes happen."

But they shouldn't on such a regular basis by the same players. It's so frustrating to watch it's like groundhog day with our back 3 (Mig/Skrtel/Lovren).

"The sending off blah blah blah."

Just a bloody excuse, we were never at the races that just gave us an excuse. They were down to 10 with 11 minutes to go and we still never looked like scoring, as for their 3rd it was just pitiful to watch.

The reason I highlight this when talking about transfers mate is the mentality of the players he's brought in and the mentality he projects across to them just seems to accept failure all too quickly. The likes of Agger/Reina/Gerrard/Suarez/Kuyt would feel the pain we do and strive to either rectify it in game or at least don't let it happen again. It winds me up to hear our current crop talk in such defeatist terms.

It's not the players, it's the style of players. It's the type of player we have being used in the wrong system.

I don't doubt that, but then I also don't think Benteke was bought to play as a lone striker, he'll partner Sturridge at some point and then we'll probably see an evolution of his tactics.

I'm of the opinion Rodgers sh*t himself last season, he knows he can't repeat last season or he'll be gone, so for now he's adopted a more cautious approach to the game trying to get as many early points on the board as he can.

Remember yesterday we controlled and dominated West Ham for large spells in the game, even when we were down to ten men, our problems didn't necessarily come from players being played in the wrong position etc, our problems came from two defensive howlers and West Ham doing a proper defensive job on us and us struggling to break them down.

The only gripe I have with yesterday apart from the two errors, is the manager not being pro-active enough to ring the changes early on when West Ham's game plan became apparent, Rodgers played straight into Bilic's hand, when he could have forced Bilic into a tactical change himself by being more pro-active.

I thought Ings looked lively as soon as he came on, he should have been brought on in the first half, before we conceded when it became apparent that West Ham were doubling up on Benteke, dropping deep, compacting the middle of the pitch and allowing us to have the ball.

Brendan's only advantage, is seemingly that he has clueless owners on his side.

He needs to put some trust in Ings, I think he could end up being a better buy than Benteke if truth be told (based solely on how it appears Rodgers wants to play football) anyway for now, he should partner the big man, starting at United.

He needs to put some trust in Ings, I think he could end up being a better buy than Benteke if truth be told (based solely on how it appears Rodgers wants to play football) anyway for now, he should partner the big man, starting at United.

I agree, if Sturridge was fit I wager he'd be playing two up top so why not use Ings for what he is, a backup to Sturridge and play with two strikers?

I don't doubt that, but then I also don't think Benteke was bought to play as a lone striker, he'll partner Sturridge at some point and then we'll probably see an evolution of his tactics.

He will but he isn't, that's the point. Sturridge isn't fit yet and isn't supposed to be until October. You don't recognise the forward you brought in can't play as a lone striker then play him as a lone striker when you have other options available to you, you play to his strengths by partnering him with the best out-and-out striker we have available for selection.

Let's remember our glorious past to keep morale :
Three days ago, people were inviting doubters to recognize Brendan is the right man after a "very convincing 0-0 draw".
How time flies.

He will but he isn't, that's the point. Sturridge isn't fit yet and isn't supposed to be until October. You don't recognise the forward you brought in can't play as a lone striker then play him as a lone striker when you have other options available to you, you play to his strengths by partnering him with the best out-and-out striker we have available for selection.

I don't disagree with that, I've championed Ings partnering Benteke myself, but as I've also stated, I think Rodgers knows himself, his arse is on the line, he repeats last season, he's probably a goner, so he's adopted a cautious approach to try and get as many points as he can early doors.

Just my opinion.

Truth be told, I want Rodgers gone at the end of last season, he flattered to deceive in the previous season in my opinion, but now's not the time to be getting rid of a manager 4 games into the new season when he's bedding new players in, we show a little patience, see how it all comes together, see if it clicks, then make our decision or we'll be just jumping from one bad decision to another.

some FACTS for everyone starting with Man Utd at Home last season we have got 15 points from a possible 39 in the Premier League.
We have scored 11 goals in these 13 games and conceded 21, to have a goal difference over those games of minus 10.

I am not really sure how bad it has go get before FSG actually wake up, I know they are clueless about "SOCCER"  but seriously even they can't believe that after £300 million, these are the results we should be achieving.

I don't disagree with that, I've championed Ings partnering Benteke myself, but as I've also stated, I think Rodgers knows himself, his arse is on the line, he repeats last season, he's probably a goner, so he's adopted a cautious approach to try and get as many points as he can early doors.

Just my opinion.

Truth be told, I want Rodgers gone at the end of last season, he flattered to deceive in the previous season in my opinion, but now's not the time to be getting rid of a manager 4 games into the new season when he's bedding new players in, we show a little patience, see how it all comes together, see if it clicks, then make our decision or we'll be just jumping from one bad decision to another.

I'm not suggesting we do get rid of him four games in, I'm simply saying there are no excuses to be made for him repeating the same mistakes time and again. Our performances and yesterday's result has nothing to do with bedding players in, it is squarely on the shoulders of a manager who repeats the same mistakes time and again, both in the transfer market and on the field, and who simply seems incapable of learning from them. In fairness though it's not just him. Five years under FSG ownership and in terms of on-field success, we're further away than ever.

I'm not suggesting we do get rid of him four games in, I'm simply saying there are no excuses to be made for him repeating the same mistakes time and again.

So it's not 4 games in then.

This form as been going on for about 6 months, with no sign of changing.

I stand by vote I cast some time ago.

I'm not suggesting we do get rid of him four games in, I'm simply saying there are no excuses to be made for him repeating the same mistakes time and again. Our performances and yesterday's result has nothing to do with bedding players in, it is squarely on the shoulders of a manager who repeats the same mistakes time and again

To me the only Mistake Rodgers made yesterday was not being pro-active in forcing West Ham into changing their tactics, he left it too long, by then the damage was already done by our defensive mistakes.